In praise of the humble picture postcard …….

 It’s that time of year when stories of holidays would fall through the letter box onto the door mat.

Fishing boats, houses and a sea wall, Mousehole,2025

And leaving aside the saucy cards of inebriated vicars, busty women, and innocent shop girls, the postal service was full of picture postcards with scenes of seaside resorts and city centres.

The golden age ended I suppose in the 1960s, and pretty much has been seen off by pictures sent instantly by mobile phones at no cost.

By contrast sending an old-fashioned picture card today will cost 87 pence along with the price of the card and take days to arrive, and even longer if sent from some holiday destination in Greece.

A century and a bit ago a stamp cost next to nothing and with frequent collections and deliveries it was possible to tell your mum you were leaving on the morning train and be home by teatime.

Twisty street leading nowhere, Mousehole, 2025

Better still you could post early and arrange to meet up later in the day.

Now all of this I have written about heaps of time supported by a collection of picture postcards from the 1880s onwards.

So instead, here are four pictures I took last week, and with the help of technology tried to reproduce that golden mellow look that many picture cards seemed to have in the 1950s and 60s along with those blue tinged ones.

I even tried the really yellow look reminiscent of Eastman colour, but that was a step too far.

Of course, I could have gone for that washed out appearance which I suspect had more to do with the length of the time the cards had sat on those twirling stands in full view of direct sunlight.

And in keeping with the time, the selection ranges from the harbour scene and twisty street to the boring.

Leaving me just to offer up some from the collection spanning the Golden Age of the picture postcard which are available by following the link.*

The boring picture, Bristol, 2025

Two bikes and a heap of boats, Mousehole, 2025

Location; Mousehole, Cornwall, and Bristol 

Pictures; Capturing Mousehole and Bristol, 2025, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Picture postcards, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Postcards

An empty police station and a ghost sign

Now the blog knows no geographical boundries, so here we are on Gloucester Road in Bristol with a ghost sign.

My old friend Barri who took the picture commented that “this ghost lettering is on the front of the now disused Horfield Police Station which is just off Gloucester Road in Bristol.

I think it has been disused for at least15-20 years, because I have never seen any policemen going in or out.

It was owned by Bristol Council, and was developed in 2007-8 by ArtSpace as studios and rehearsal rooms.

However this didn't last and the building is now empty and awaiting redevelopment, still owned by the council.

I don't know much more about it than that, apart from it was built in 1903.”

And that is about it for now, but as you can never have enough ghost signs and this one is a good one I await someone adding to the story.

Picture; Horsfield Police Station, Gloucester Road, Bristol, 2014 from the collection of Barri Sparshot